KPFK’s New Model — Part 3 — Where Did All The Pets Go?

Buildings Bursting With Angry Employees Is a Dangerous Thing

by Ed Murray

Dateline Los Angeles:

It’s a perfectly natural behavior pattern.  As the entire Pacifica network surges toward complete disintegration, everyone is angry.  There’s so much tension at the KPFK building that sometimes it seems that the whole place is just going to start spinning around and take off into outer space.  Most of this is caused by the new ruling clique and their actions.  Getting rid of a bunch of people and cutting the staff salaries has everyone on edge, especially those who might like to pay their rent next month and maybe have enough left over for a taco at Poquito Mas. Last week it was reported that not only were the staff union members put on half salary, but the union dues that were deducted from their wages had not been remitted to the union in months.  Nice.  Now the question is will the union continue to represent members who haven’t paid their dues, through no fault of their own?  Tensions run high.

Louisville Hound Dog
Louisville Hound Dog

There is, however, a solution to all this.  As KPFK slips and morphs its way into the business model of Revolution Radio, these kinds of problems will melt away.  As reported on previously, no one is paid at Revolution Radio, except maybe the owner, The NnightHawkk.  Or “Mr. Nnight Hawkk”, as he is sometimes called.   If nobody is paid, and the entire staff and all the hosts are working for free, then nobody gets mad when the pay is cut in half, or cut completely.  Problem solved.

There is also the Pet Factor as it is called. The Nnight Hawkk knows that pets have a calming effect on humans.  At Revolution Radio, you will see a big old hound dog lounging around, and a lot of cats.  This technique should be immediately applied at KPFK, and in fact throughout the entire Pacifica organization.  Pets should be mandatory at all stations.

How nice it would be if everybody could bring their real best friend to work with them.  Imagine a menagerie of doggies and kitties at KPFK, and maybe a nice canary singing in his window cage at the front entrance. This would have a calming effect on the employees who are now bursting with anger.  It’s hard to get upset at anything when there’s a purring kitten nestled in your lap.  And if some barking dog sounds float out over the air during a show, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  It would remind the subscribers that they are listening to a radio station made up of real people.  And lets face it, dogs have important things to say too.

How To Throw A Big Bash And Raise Funds. The Story of Hawk Fest

Anyone who’s been listening to KPFK the last few years has heard the sound:  a near constant, shrill, whinning sound.  No, nothing is wrong with your radio or the KPFK Transmitter.  It’s the ever-present begging-for-money sound that drones on day after day.  Down south in Louiville, at Revolution Radio, they know things.  And one of them is how to bring in a few bucks and have some fun.

The Stage at Hawk Fest ready to go.
The Stage at Hawk Fest ready to go.

Once a year, The NnightHawkk gears up for a big bash, which of course, is appropriately called Hawk Fest.  It’s a shindig that KPFK should pay close attention to. Mr. Mike Ringley, The NnightHawkk, clears the decks for action a few weeks before the Labor Day holiday and organizes the event, which took place this year on part of his farm, which is called Hawk’s Nest.  Being thrifty, like most southern folk, Mr. NnightHawkk has a do-it-yourself attitude.  He even built his own stage this year for the night-time music show. It looks cool at night with the color lights on it, and the performers and bands appear to be floating in the trees.  A few sips of some Kentucky white lightning will help to bring that image home.

The NnightHawkk's costume ready for action
The NnightHawkk’s costume ready for action

The Hawk Fest is a fabulous event.  It only costs $25 bucks for a ticket, which comes with a camping spot.  Or you could bring your own RV.  In that case the fee is only $20 bucks, which is really a bargain on many levels. The food plates cost extra, but are very reasonable, like about 25% of what you would pay in L.A.  From the youtube videos, it’s obvious that the food is fantastic.  The pre-fest video walk around showed the NnightHawkk’s gardens, he and his wife grow their own food.  A lot of the listeners at KPFK are always talking about going to an expensive market to buy “organic” food, which costs a lot more than just regular food.  At the Hawk’s Nest farm, they GROW their own food.  How many KPFK  folks actually grow their own food?  Some are even a little snobby about eating only organic (the wealthy folks).  But down at the Hawk Fest, real, home-grown food is served, and lots of it.  KPFK should take note of this – there’s plenty of room on the roof of their building to start a big garden.  This is a very sheikh thing to do, nowadays in urban areas, and a roof-top food garden could supply all the future non-paid volunteers with some good, healthy grub, since eating at fancy-pants restaurants will be a thing of the past for them.

And no big bash is complete without some entertainment.  The NnightHawkk is no stranger to music.  His bio says he studied music at UC Berkeley.  He had his own band and is killer at rock-and-roll. There is a problem, sometimes, living in a rural area, in getting some musicians together.  A recent Facebook post by Mr. NnightHawkk brings his frustration to the surface: ” i may be a musician but i fucking hate musicians UN trustworthy distracted lot nu reliable put off people that have no clue that this a business behind all this this is why i quit music.” (sic)  Also on hand at this year’s Hawk Fest was stand up comedienne Tere Joyce, and the master of ceremonies was the beloved Sean David Morton.  Click here to see Tere Joyces’ impromptu interview with Sean David, and get a glimpse of the famous white lightning.

KPFK could certainly learn a lesson here and put on its own bash.  Get some of the “work in kind” contractors to build a simple stage at the end of the parking lot.  Get out the folding chairs and tables and have the local restaurants cater the food, like they used to do for the phone volunteers in the old days of fund raising.  Tickets for the event could include a meal.  Get a few bands, or if nobody will pitch in, how about forming your own group?  A monthly night -time Progressive Radio Bash should bring in enough money to buy seeds for the roof garden.

One warning should be stated, and this is from the Hawk Fest official rules of engagement:  Leave your firearms stowed in your vehicle trunk or safe.  Anyone giving adult beverages to anyone under 21 will be violently ejected from the event.  This event is family friendly will be many kids around.  Anyone that imbibes to the point where they become a nuisance will need to go to their tent or be ejected form the event. (sic)  Suggest KPFK also post these rules in large print, especially since there are so many angry employees and staff members.

 

KPFK’s Slide To A New Business Model – Part 2

Dateline:  Los Angeles

Give Progressives and West-side Liberals What They Really Want

by Ed Murray

Venice Nipple Protest

Now that KPFK has pretty much gutted out some of its award-winning programs, like Sonali Kolhatkar’s Uprising, and Ian Masters’ Background Briefing, it can concentrate on programs that Progressives really want to hear about, like the annual Venice Beach Go Topless Day March, Rally and Protest. And let’s face it, awards for quality broadcasting are monstrously over-rated.  Really, an award is just a piece of paper with some words on it, in a nice frame.  KPFK is now free to print up their own awards.  Or, they could do a 3-D plaque by making a quick trip to Radio Shack and buying some cheap mics for about $5-$10 bucks each, get a couple of “U” shaped clamps at Home Depot, and mount the mics on nice pieces of wood. These could be KPFK’s “Golden Mic” awards.  Give them out to all the new revolutionary volunteer programmers, it’l make them feel swell.

Note the cute UFO Alien pasties
Note the cute UFO Alien pasties

Obviously, it’s way past time for KPFK to jump in the mud bath with the other tabloid media. Look to Revolution Radio for guidance.  One of their shows, for instance, “Freedom of Joyce”, with host Tere Joyce, puts out some interesting topics.  Stand up comedienne Tere even beat out KPFK on it’s own turf when she went to Venice and filmed the Free The Nipple Parade for her show.  This was a big event in Venice, with hundreds of young women demanding the right to go topless at Venice Beach, and parading around with only little pasties covering their nipples.  It was quite a scene. The question has to be asked:  Where was KPFK?  A “Go Topless Day March, Rally and Protest”  program would be popular with a big portion of their listeners. This is what progressive folks and westside liberals really want to hear about. Who cares about politics anymore?  It’s such ugly stuff.  And soon it will be nothing but history, so why worry about it?

Which Loon Made Those Decisions?

And while it’s being discussed, what’s with KPFK having a table at a recent Los Angeles City-Wide picnic for Unions and union family members?  KPFK was accused of “union-busting”, but they showed up at the recent Union picnic.  Weird.  But they didn’t show up at the huge Los Angeles Times Book Fair this spring at U.S.C., or the equally cool Spanish Language book fair.  Which loon made those decisions?

“It Was a Thin Book From Beginning To End”

Funny Girl Tere Joyce from Revolution Radio scoops KPFK every time.
Funny Girl Tere Joyce from Revolution Radio
scoops KPFK every time.

Or so said host Tere Joyce about a book she had once read.  Her ever-entertaining show on Revolution Radio has such topics as the one where she exposed Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard’s connection to JPL founder Jack Parsons.  The Hubbard/Parsons connections to the occult and to Aleister Crowley are bizarre.  Another show was a retrospective called The Greatest UFO Story Never Told, about Giant Rock and UFO contactee George Van Tassel.  At KPFK the UFO topic is basically verbotten, along with such topics as Chemtrails, 911 truth movement, and government CIA involvement in the drug trade. Any subject that has the word “conspiracy” in it is supposedly forbidden to be talked about at KPFK, unless it is after midnight or in one of the Spanish language programs. If a UFO ever did really land in the KPFK parking lot some night the Program Managers would head for the 24 hour medical clinics for blood tests to see if they had mistakenly gobbled down some LSD. However, things may be about to change, although possibly leading to a reckless catastrophe.

The Strange Universe of Sean David Morton

Psychic Sean Davod

Another fascinating show on Revolution Radio is a show called Strange Universe Radio, broadcasting 5 nights a week with host Sean David Morton, who has been described as a “Nationally Known Psychic”.  At least, that’s what the Securities and Exchange Commission called him when they pinned a default judgement against Morton, his wife, and several of his enterprises.  The SEC said:

“District Court Grants Securities and Exchange Commission’s
Motions for Default Judgment against a Nationally Known Psychic
and his Corporate Entities in Multi-Million Dollar Offering Fraud.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced today that on February 11, 2013 the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered default judgments against Sean David Morton
(Morton), a nationally recognized
psychic who bills himself as “America’s
Prophet,” his wife, relief defendant Melissa Morton, and corporate shell
entities co-owned by the Mortons. In addition to ordering permanent
injunctions from violating anti-fraud and registration statutes and rule, each
defendant was ordered to disgorge, jointly and severally, $5,181,135.82,
along with prejudgment interest of $1,171,110.54, and pay a penalty of
$5,181,135.82 for a total of $11,533,382.18. Relief defendants Melissa
Morton and the Prophecy Research Institute, the Mortons’ nonprofit
religious organization, were ordered to disgorge $468,281 plus prejudgment
interest of $105,847.23, for a total of $574,128.23.”

Secret Passages Inside the Great Pyramid

In spite of all this, Sean David Morton remains in demand.  He is a very entertaining speaker.  Earlier this year he spoke at the Alchemy Event in Los Angeles to a packed hall.  He’s a funny guy, really.  The SEC indicates that his “investment advice”, based on his psychic predictions, might be a bit risky.  But the edginess of all this makes for exciting radio programs, and Sean David Morton is still pulling in listeners and filling seats in auditoriums.  Maybe he should be given a shot – put him on KPFK during L.A. drive-time and see what the psychic man can do.  Could he pull in more listeners than, say Background Briefing?  Hard to tell, and one interesting comment somewhere was “if he was such a great psychic how did he miss the SEC event coming down on him?”  Nevertheless, Sean David, as he is fondly called by his fans, is a brilliant raconteur, and can speak fluently on almost any subject:  science, ancient history, politics, futurism, technology. On a recent cruise-ship gig that he was on, he mesmerized a large audience for more than an hour giving a detailed description of the passage-ways that are under the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and how he has figured out that the measurements of the passages relate to events in world history.  Mind-blowing stuff, although a little off current mainstream thought.  However, he could be the savior of KPFK as a 5pm-7pm Shock Jock, if Pacifica could borrow him for a while from Revolution Radio, where he claims he has about 11 million listeners world-wide to his radio program.  The Pacifica network of stations could use a few million new listeners.  But first they have to replace their almost continuous fund drives with some interesting programs, and Sean David is the man to deliver on this. A side benefit is that if any secret passages are found underneath KPFK,  he may be able to predict the future of the station by measuring the distances between certain mathematical points in the passages themselves.

End of Part 2

Is KPFK Sliding Into The “Freedom Slips” Business Model?

Dateline:  Los Angeles

Successful Southern Internet Radio Station Lights The Road To KPFK’s Next Destination

Part 1

by Ed Murray

Mike "NnightHawkk" Ringley
Mike “NniteHawkk” Ringley

What’s apparent in the current struggle at KPFK and Pacifica, is that the new regime of “revolutionaries” is intent on pushing the entire network into a murky, unknown area of operation. The model of listener-supported by voluntary contributions, which replaced traditional radio station advertising, could be going down the drain.  Recent mis-management at the network, causing a huge financial loss, has led to almost endless fund drives, causing cursing listeners to find solace somewhere else on the dial.  There’s a lot of other problems, of course, but lets kick those aside into the cardboard box to go through at a later time with a six-pack of Corona, when retrospection will be like therapy.  Make that 2 six packs.

Because It could be, that purely by accident, Pacifica is  headed toward a new paradigm of radio station operations, one that has already been pioneered by a good ole southern boy musician turned internet entrepreneur who is causing a storm of attention across the land. Since Pacifica’s yellow brick road has now ended about a mile into the bog of the doomed, one could ask “if KPFK broadcasts a program at 9pm on a weeknight and no one is listening, has it really happened?”  I can’t tell you the answer to that, because I was never good at deep phisics, but it is a slim possibility.

The Nnitehawkk Lands in Louisville

First, let’s make one thing clear:  we have no idea why Mr. Ringley has 2 “N”s and 2 “K”s in “Nnitehawkk”.  One guess is that  someone else was using the name “Nitehawk”.  One researcher told me that George Noory used to call himself The Nighthawk.  Anyway, Mike “Nnitehawkk” Ringley studied music at UC Berkeley.  After graduation, he did a bunch of stuff, we don’t know what, but then settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where he bought an attractive home where he resides with his wife, Elizabeth and their children.  It was there that he set up what would become his radio empire, the subject of the present comparison with the failing KPFK business model. It’s called Revolution Radio, and the website is www.FreedomSlips.com.  A facebook video of the radio station shows a room full of computers,  monitors and audio equipment, in what could possibly be the basement of his large 2 story home.  The house in neatly kept, and has ample grounds to have fundraisers, grow vegetables, and enjoy the nice southern atmosphere.  More on this a little later.

(The entire workforce at Freedom Slips/ Revolution Radio) ” are not paid for their efforts – nor do they expect to be.”

So let’s begin by taking a look at KPFK’s current financial situation.  Things are bad, like really bad.  The new General Manager, Leslie Radford, has cut staff salaries by 50%, triggering charges that she is “union busting”, and forcing the union to take KPFK into arbitration, which has happened.
On the other hand, the first thing I noticed on the masthead that lists the staff and crew who run the Revolution Radio station, is the statement that nobody is paid, “nor do they expect to be.”  The full statement is:  “Be sure to give them a shout out when you see them around – they are not paid for their efforts – nor do they expect to be. They do this for your benefit as much as their own.”  Mr. Ringley has found the cornerstone of the new economics of running a radio station.  Free Labor!  No half measures like the General Manager of KPFK, Leslie Radford has done by cutting the wages of the staff 50%.  The Nnitehawkk got it right from the get-go.  Under this model, I would suggest the KPFK public follow the advice that the Nnitehawkk gives to his listeners:  next time you see Ian Masters around KPFK, give the old guy a shout out, even if he is still getting half his salary.

And before anyone gets all gushy about not being paid, flip the coin over.  The staff and programmers in Louisville are gaining valuable experience.  This would be useful  in the future if they come to the big city and want to get a high paying job in the radio business, you know, at a real radio station, like KPFK.  In the big city everyone’s gotta eat. And if there’s no union, then management can never be smeared as union busters and austerity thugs.  Let’s face it, austerity is OK for those who don’t have to have it.

Work in Kind

At a recent KPFK LSB meeting someone broached the subject of “work in kind” as a way of saving money.  Now the weird thing is that when you look over the entire KPFK situation, the biggest mistake that management made in the past was not filing the audit reports and financial data so they could get their grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  According to some of the LSB members, this amounts now to a staggering 2 million dollars or more.  It is beyond belief, really, that this happened, because with that gigantic mountain of cash, there would be no financial crises at Pacifica.  Everyone would be getting full salary.  So it is almost a joke to hear some of the schemes put up to close the black hole of debt. Like such pettiness as “work in kind.”  But there is some merit to the thought.

Work in Kind
Work in Kind

Back in Louisville, Mr. Ringley has had to face these kinds of situations.  He is not afraid to pitch in and get his hands dirty, get some friends, and do something.  One of the projects that he completed is shown on his facebook page.  He wanted to put in a nice patio, and he did.  What do all the big shots at KPFK do?  Many listeners and supporters are bringing in food, helping out, going to demonstrations, passing out KPFK flyers, manning tables.  But what about the chiefs?  The GM, or any of the higher ups?  Where’s the patio that they built?  A cute patio in the parking lot under the trees would be really nice.  I predict it would be a popular gathering place.  It would also give the staff a chance to put out some tip cups and some signs for the passerby to see.  Instead of all the constant annoying fund drives, visitors to the station could drop by and leave a buck or two for their favorite programmer. Maybe even bring the poor sods a pizza once in a while.

KPFK Programming Is Fading Into Absolute Bordom

Now we come to the issue of programming.  This is a hot-button topic at KPFK.  There has been a titanic battle at KPFK over the years.  Once the flagship of progressive thought and politics, the station is sadly fading into absolute boredom.  It’s so bad that the fund drive programming is becoming more popular than any of the current shows.  One wag suggested that the station should go on a 24/7 fund drive the whole year.  A contest would be held as to who could bring in the most money in an hour.  The winner would get a big cash prize, like $10,000 in gold.  The rules would allow the program hosts to do almost anything to win and thereby enrich the station.  Any product in the world could be used as a premium.  Any tactic would be fair – crying, screaming, begging, sniveling.  The hosts should be allowed to bring in hired guns, the pros from Home Shopping networks, or local Carnivals and State Fairs.  These folks know how to pitch things big time. They know how to go for the gold.

End of Part 1

 

 

 

 

KPFK Blasted For “Homophobic Rant”, Financial Failure

Dateline: Los Angeles

KPFK Airs Homophobic Rant as the

Station Faces Financial Failure

by Karen Ocamb, Frontiers Media

Leslie Radford KPFK's new G.M.
Leslie Radford
KPFK’s new G.M.

Since 1959, KPFK, the Pacifica radio station in Los Angeles, has broadcast a wide range of liberal and hard-left-leaning programming under the rubric of multiculturalism. KPFK, for instance, airs the only LGBT-specific broadcast in the Greater L.A. area—IMRU, produced by award-winning out journalist Steve Pride.

But constant rebellion doesn’t necessarily entail respect among the programmers and community board members of the commercial-free, listener-sponsored station, so Pride created a Hate Speech Prevention policy. It took seven months to pass, but the interim policy was in effect on Aug. 15-16 when KPFK aired an unchallenged homophobic rant in which a psychiatrist compared homosexuality to bestiality, among other offensive comments.

General Manager Leslie Radford preapproved the 30-hour block of programming, “Afrikan Mental Liberation Weekend” with host Dr. Kwaku Person-Lynn.

Click here to read entire story at Frontiers Media